Skipping Stones

The Oil War of Hypersonics

By: Chris Knowles

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

In the Summer of 2021, the economy of the Russian Federation was teetering on the brink. The proceeds from the export sales of fossil fuels by Rosneft and Gazprom, the two state-owned crude oil and natural gas companies, was all that was propping it up. Then word reached Moscow that Saudi Arabia was going to release large new volumes of crude oil on the commodities markets sending the price plummeting and capturing a greater percentage of the export market. Russia’s economy could not withstand this. In order to diminish the Saudi supply of crude oil, Russia decided to launch an attack with its newest weapon, the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle, on the largest concentration of Saudi oil fields to reduce the source of their available supplies for export. But the plan became known to the Americans, allies of the Saudis, and they intervened on their behalf. In retaliation, the United States launched a comparable strike on the Russians’ Power of Siberia pipeline which delivered natural gas to China. The ball was now in Russia’s court. Would they consider the matter settled or take out their anger by launching an attack in response on American fossil fuel interests? The closest and natural target was the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline.